In A display as weak and watery as his quarter-final defeat against Michael Stich at Wimbledon this year, Tim Henman was crushed in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, by South Africa Wayne Ferreira in the second round of the US Open here yesterday.
Ferreira, currently ranked 55 after a poor run this year, although a former world number six, rarely had to play at anything but military medium as Henman self-destructed amidst a plethora of unforced errors.
It was all the more disappointing after Henman's first round victory over the number five seed Thomas Muster of Austria, while Henman's quarter of the draw had opened up even further when Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the number three seed, was also beaten in straight sets by Mark Woodforde of Australia.
Henman, who at the beginning of the weak officially lost his British number one ranking to Greg Rusedski, had complained of blisters after his victory over Muster, but it was his racket work rather than his footwork which was all askew.
The British camp had themselves been talking with barely disguised glee about Ferreira's dodgy right ankle, although at the end of the Rusedski-Marcos Ondruska match the previous night, which Ferreira was watching, the 6ft 1in right hander from Johannesburg skipped down the steps with remarkable alacrity for an injured man.
After the previous day's rain the sun powered through at the start of the match; the same could not be said of Henman's ground strokes, serves, volleys, or anything thing else.
The way to test Ferreira's mobility was clearly to move him around court; unfortunately Henman needed to keep the ball in play in order to put such thoughts into practice.
The writing was on the wall in Henman's first service game when a series of forehand errors, the first of many, and a searing forehand pass by Ferreira saw the British player 0-40 down. He scrambled his way back, only to be broken next time around.
Generally, Ferreira was able to dictate play at an almost stately pace. One missed drive volley gave Henman half a chance on the Ferreira serve in the first set, but otherwise the South African rarely missed a shot.
The first set was over in just over half an hour and any hopes of a thrillingly dramatic comeback were immediately squashed when Henman dropped his serve to love at the start of the second. "Come on, Tim. Do it for the Queen," a Bronx voice beseeched. Not for Queen, country or, most of all, himself. This was a dire display.
"Wayne was hitting some really good passing shots and he took the initiative," said an obviously subdued Henman who had rushed off court after Ferreira's very first service game. "I needed the loo," said Henman. It might have been better if he had found himself locked in.
"When I'm good I'm great; when I'm bad I'm awful," said Henman. Clearly both he and his coach, David Felgate, are well aware of this inconsistency and are "working on it". Not exactly successfully by the look of things.
(Prefix number denotes seeding).
Men's singles - Second round: (13) P Rafter (Aus) bt M Norman (Swe) 6-2 6-1 6-2, C Pioline (Fra) bt N Lapentti (Ecu) 6-0 6-4 6-2, M Larsson (Swe) bt N Escude (Fra) 6-4 6-2 7-6 (7/3), F Meligeni (Ita) bt C Ruud (Nor) 6-3 6-4 63; M Woodforde (Aus) bt (3) Y Kafelnikov (Rus) 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7/4), H Gumy (Arg) bt T Woodbridge (Aus) 7-5 6-4 6-2; T Haas (Ger) bt J Kroslak (Svk) 6-4 6-1 6-2, W Ferreira (Rsa) bt T Henman (Brit) 6-3 6-2 6-4. A Agassi (USA) bt A Voinea (Rom) 6-0 6-2 6-2, L Roux (Fra) bt P Haarhuis (Ned) 7-6 (7/5) 6-3 6-7 (5/7) 6-7 (3/7) 6-4, J Gimelstob (USA) bt M Gustafsson (Swe) 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7/4) 4-6 6-1. (7) S Bruguera (Spa) bt G Stafford (Rsa) 6-4 6-2 7-6 (7/3), S Sargisan (Arm) bt C Woodruff (Aus), walkover due to right fore-arm injury; L Paes (Ind) bt A Boetsch (Fra) 6-4 6-0 2-1, retired foot injury.
Women's singles - Third round: (11) I Spirlea (Rom) bt L Osterloh (USA) 6-2 7-5.(2) M Seles (USA) bt M Oremans (Ned) 6-1 6-1. (9) M Pierce (Fra) bt N Zvereva (Blr) 7-6 (7/2) 6-1, S Testud (Fra) bt E Wagner (Ger) 6-1 6-3. (5) A Coetzer (Rsa) bt F Perfeti (Ita) 6-2 7-5; K Habsudova (Svk) bt M Maleeva (Bul) 0-6 7-7 6-1.
